The Hunger Games: Prim
by benjy-1999
Summary: Katniss isn't alive to volunteer for Prim, but what will happen to her? Is she really as weak as she is made out to be? Or will she be able to survive the games? Thank you for reading!
1. Chapter 1

I woke up crying. Again. Today is the day of my first reaping. My cat Buttercup stands on my chest, alerted by my screaming. I named him Buttercup because the colour of his yellow tabby fur resembles the same of the flower. My mother lays next to me, stroking my hair, soothing me and telling me how this is my first year, how I won't be chosen as tribute.  
"But mother, I signed up for Tesserae"  
"Your name is in there once more than normal Prim, others take Tesserae for their families and can have their names in the reaping a lot more than you do right now. Like that poor boy, Gale Hawthorne, his name is in the reaping 42 time this year, yours is only in there twice, Prim." My mother says softly.  
When you sign up for Tesserae, you can get extra rations of Oil and Grain each month. Mother and I are so low on food all the time, it became my only option to sign up for it. The only good thing about our food situation is that many people know about it, and to the disagreement of his horrible wife, the baker often brings us bread to eat, and Buttercup often catches Mice, despite the fact that there is barely any meat on them, we are still grateful to him. I remember when I first found Buttercup. He was so cold and dirty and lonely, I stroked him a few times and he purred back at me in his deep hum. I turned around and walked home, but as I got through the door, I heard felt him brush past my leg, and I knew then that I had to keep him. I begged mother to let me keep him, and then the end, she gave in.  
"Tell me the story about Katniss again."  
"Well," replies my mother, "she was a beautiful baby. She barely ever cried, and myself and your father adored her. But when she turned 2, she got the measles, and she didn't make it." A tear runs down my mothers eye as I wipe it away with my thumb, I smile at her and she smiles back. "We can visit her and your fathers graves while we make our way to the square for the reaping."  
Mother runs me a warm bath, which is a luxury here in the seam, the slums of District 12. When I get out of the bath, I see that she has also laid an old dress of hers on my bed.  
Before we leave, I contemplate on wether to kiss Buttercup goodbye. I know that it will upset him, me being gone, and it will upset me too, even more than I already am. I do kiss him goodbye though. After visiting my father and Katniss's graves, the horn sounds, signalling us to make our way to the town square, where people are lining up to be checked in for the reaping.  
"Whats that?" i say with fear to my mother.  
"They're just going to take a little bit of blood, its fine Prim it doesn't hurt."  
Tears run down my eyes as mother kisses me on the cheek. I walk towards the check-in point. A woman pricks a needle into my finger and its painful for a second but it goes quicker than I expected. As I stare at one of the huge screens outside the Justice Building, I watch the video that is shown every single year, telling us about how there were 13 districts, but the 13th started an uprising against the Capitol, and lost. To show the Districts that the Capitol is strong and powerful, they started the Hunger Games. This is where 2 tributes, a boy and a girl between the ages of 12 to 18, are chosen to fight in a televised battle to the death. As the video ends, I see Effie Trinkett standing on the stage with her absurd hair and makeup.  
"I just love that!" Says Effie, "Happy Hunger Games, and may the odds be ever in your favour, first the girls!" Her hand drops into the glass ball full of paper and it dances for a random piece. She grabs one with a snap of her fingers and pulls it out. In that one second my heart began racing faster than it had done before. I could feel tears falling down my face again. "Its not you Prim, it's not you." I tell myself over and over. As Effie opens the piece of paper, my heart begins to pound against my chest to the point where I think it's going to burst out.  
Effie shouts out a name. But it is no random name. It's a good thing i said goodbye to Buttercup this morning, because the name Effie is calling is mine.


	2. Chapter 2

The sun is burning my skin. I can't breath. I'm going to die right here, right now. I hear sighs of relief from around me; girls thankful that they're lives are spared, perhaps only for another year.  
"Well, come up!" I hear Effie yell into the microphone. Her voice booms through the speakers and rings around in my head. This is it. I put one foot in front of the other and walk. I turn to walk down the path when two peacekeepers form beside me. Tears are streaming down my face now, and loose hairs from the two pigtails down either side of my head blow around in my face. I push them behind my head and continue to walk. That's until one foot gets under the other and I fall straight to onto my face. I scream with pain and the peacekeepers instantly pick me back up. I feel blood dripping from my nose, but I keep walking. It feels like this narrow path is never going to come to an end.

I walk up the stairs to the stage and stand there. Everyone in the crowd is just staring at me, and I can read their faces. I know that they're thinking 'hasn't that family been through enough?' That's what I'm thinking anyway. Effie tries to talk to me but I don't reply. I can't reply. I see my mother in the crowd. Tears are falling down her face and she looks like she cant cope any longer.  
"Oh, well then." I hear Effie say, "now for the boys." She puts her hand into the other reaping ball and picks out one a slice of paper with the name of one very unlucky boy inscribed on it. "Peeta Mallark!" She cries. I know him. He's the bakers son, the one with the evil mother who also gives me the strangest smile whenever I see her.  
"Ahh, our two tributes from District Twelve, Primrose Everdeen and Peeta Mallark!" Shouts Effie. "Happy Hunger Games, and May the odds be ever in your favour."

Peeta and I are escorted into the Justice Building where we are placed in separate rooms. From the other side of the door, I hear "You have 2 minutes."  
My mother walks in crying her eyes out. I just walk up the her and cuddle her harder than I ever have before.  
"I believe you can do this, Prim," she says, "you're small, just hide for the whole time, eventually, everyone else will be killed and you'll be the victor."  
"It isn't that simple mother," I reply, "they'll all be bigger than me, better too." She puts her lips to my ear and just whispers "I believe in you." She kisses me on the cheek and the tears start streaming down my face again. With that, a peacekeeper walks in and drags her out. "I love you Prim!" She screams.  
The door slams and silence consumes me. I just sit there, until I am escorted to a car. Effie sits in between Peeta and I and just rambles on about something about the Capitol. Once we're put of the car, floods of people with cameras try to get a snapshot of us, but we are quickly escorted to the train.

The train is wonderful. Its full of foods that I didn't even know existed. There's so much food. So much of everything that you could think of. I turn a corner and go to open a door when it slides open right in front of me. Sitting there in a chair by a roaring fire is a man I recognize. His name, Haymitch Abbernathy, my mentor.


End file.
